Performance of a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite process for treating wastewater with different substrates at ambient temperature

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 688 - 697
• Main Authors: Chang, Xiaoyan, Li, Dong, Liang, Yuhai, Yang, Zhuo, Cui, Shaoming, Liu, Tao, Zeng, Huiping, Zhang, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2013; Key Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology,Beijing 100124, China%State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
• Subjects: Alkalies - chemistry; alkalinity; Ambient temperature; Ammonia; Ammonia - chemistry; ammonium nitrogen; anaerobic ammonium oxidation; anammox; Autotrophic Processes; Bacteria; bio-filter; Bioreactors - microbiology; Communities; community structure; completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite; Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; dissolved oxygen; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; nitrites; Nitrites - isolation & purification; nitrogen; Nitrogen - isolation & purification; Nitrogen removal; Oxidation; Oxygen - analysis; Solubility; Temperature; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Waste water; Waste Water - chemistry; wastewater; Water Purification - methods; dissolved oxygen; completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite; pH; alkalinity; anammox; bio-filter
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/S1001-0742(12)60094-1

The stability and parameters of a bio-ceramic filter for completely autotrophic nitrogen removal were investigated. The completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite （CANON） reactor was fed with different concentrations of ammonia （400, 300, and 200 mg N/L） but constant influent ammonia load. The results showed that the CANON system can achieve good treatment performance at ambient temperature （15-23℃）. The average removal rate and removal loading of NH4＋-N and TN was 83.90%, 1.26 kg N/（m3.day）, and 70.14%, 1.09 kg N/（m3.day）, respectively. Among the influencing factors like pH, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity, it was indicated that the pH was the key parameter of the performance of the CANON system. Observing the variation of pH would contribute to better control of the CANON system in an intuitive and fast way. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of microorganisms further revealed that there were some significant changes in the community structure of ammonium oxidizing bacteria, which had low diversity in different stages, while the species of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing （anammox） bacteria were fewer and the community composition was relatively stable. These observations showed that anaerobic ammonia oxidation was more stable than the aerobic ammonia oxidation, which could explain that why the CANON system maintained a good removal efficiency under the changing substrate conditions.